Relay.



No. 770,951. PATENTED SEPT. 27, 1904. J. G. BARCLAY.

RELAY.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 23, 1904. N0 MODEL, 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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7; ZTTORNEYEE No. 770,951. PATENTED SEPT. 27, 1904.

Y J. G. BARCLAY.

RELAY.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 23, 1904.

NO MODEL. 2 SHBETS-SHBET 2.

a as W|TNESSESIW INVIZJUR CW L A: TORNEY-S UNITED STATES Patented September 27, 1904.

JOHN (lBARCLAY, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

RELAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 770,951, dated September 27, 1904. Application filed January 23, 1904. Serial No. 190,255. (No model.)

To aZZ whom itmay concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN C. BARCLAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Relays; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in electric relays, sounders, and similar instruments; and it consists in means whereby a slight movement of the armature brings into action an auxiliary or secondary circuit passing through the magnet of the instrument, the

effect of which is to increase the power available for the operation of the armature.

My invention further consists in features of construction hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

The objects of my invention are to render telegraph relays, sounders, and the like more certain and positive in their operation, to avoid the use on telegraph-lines and the like of sounders distinct and separate from but controlled by line-relays, and to cause the linerelays, even when controlled by exceedinglyweak currents, to give distinct and clearlyaudible signals, and to make the instrument simple, compact, relatively inexpensive, and

free from liability to derangement.

I will now proceed to describe my invention with reference to the accompanying drawings and will then point out the novel features in claims.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 shows a vertical longitudinal section of a neutral telegraph-relay constructed in accordance with my invention, the windings of the coils being indicated diagrammatically. Fig. 2 is a detail view, on a larger scale, of the contact devices of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail rear view of the armature. Fig. 4: is a View similar to Fig. 2, showing an alternative arrangement of contacts for the secondary or auxiliary circuit. Fig. 5 is a further view showing an alternative arrangement of the contacts for the secondary or auxiliary circuit. Fig. 6 is a detail view showing a device employed in the construction shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 1, illustrating the application of my invention to polar relays. Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 7, illustrating an alternative method of applying my invention to polar relays. Fig. 9 is a detail view illustrating a further alternative method of applying the invention to polar relays.

In present telegraph practice it is customary to employ for receiving the signals or messages sounders which are not themselves in the main-line circuit, but are in local circuits controlled by sensitive relays in the main line. The sounders and local circuits for operating them are employed, because on most telegraphlines the current available for the operation of the main-line relays is too weak to enable the relays themselves to give clearly-audible signals. To overcome this difficulty, I provide the relay-magnet with asecond coil in addition to the main-line coil and connected to a secondary, auxiliary, or local circuit, and I further provide contacts arranged to be operated by relatively slight motion of the armature, but which control the said secondary, auxiliary, or local circuit and by their operation cause this circuit to act to increase greatly the power available for the further operation of the armature, so that said armature may move with suflicient travel and may strike its stops with sufiicient force to produce satisfactory audible signals. My instrument is therefore a combined relay and sounder which may have the delicacy requisite in a main-line relay and may be controlled positively in its operation by currents as weak as those which now suflice for the operation of main-line relays and which will nevertheless give audible signals equal to those of a sounder.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings and at first to Fig. l, the combined relay and sounder there shown is in general similar in construction to an ordinary main-line neutral relay, comprising a pivoted armature 1, having front and back stops 9. and 3, respectively, and the usual retractile spring 4 and having a magnet of which 5 is a core and 6 the ordinary main-line coil or winding. In

this relay I employ in addition to the ordinary main-line coil 6 a second coil 7 for the local,

secondary, or auxiliary circuit above mentioned. I further provide contacts operated by the movement of the armature for opening and closing this local circuit. One arrangement of such contacts is shown in Figs. 1 and 2, comprising a contact-spring 8, mounted upon an insulating-support 9, carried by the armature 1 and carrying a contact-point 10, adapted to engage a similar contact-point 11 on the armature. A sliding contact-rod 12 is mounted in a bore of the armature and is surrounded by a spiral spring 13, which serves to give slight frictional resistance to the motion of said rod. Said rod is in electrical connection with the armature and carries at one end a contact-point 14, adapted to make contact with an adjustable contact-screw 15. The other end of the said rod 12 carries a piece of insulating material 16, adapted to engage the contact-spring 8 when the armature has nearly reached its front stop 2. In the drawings I have shown the local circuit 17 connected at one end to contact-spring 8 and at the other to adjusting screw-stop 15, and said circuit includes a suitable local battery or source of electric current 18. I have omitted illustration of the usual binding-posts.

In Figs. 1 and 2 I have shown the armature 1 in contact with the front stop 2. In its normal position the armature is of course in contact with back stop 3, in which position contact-points 10 and 11 are in contact, but the secondary or auxiliary circuit is broken between points 14 and 15. hen the main-line circuit 6 is closed and the armature attracted toward the magnet, the auxiliary circuit is closed early in the movement of the armature by the completion of contact between points 14 and 15, and since the secondary coils 7 act in harmony with coil 6 the closing of the local circuit greatly increases the power available for the movement of the armature, causing the armature to strike its front stop 2 with the force necessary to produce a loud and clear signal. An instant before the armature reaches its front stop 2 the member 12,

which remains stationary after contact with screw '15, pushes spring 8 backward with reference to the armature, so as to break the local circuit between points 10 and 11, thus opening said circuit, so that upon opening of the main-line circuit the armature may be drawn backward by the spring 4. These operations are repeated each time the main-line circuit is closed. The spring 13 affords sufiicient frictional resistance to prevent contact between points 14 and 15 during backward motion of the armature. The forward motion of the armature required to close the local circuit between points 14 and 15 is very slight indeed. Since, therefore, the local circuit is active during the greater portion of the motion of said armature, it is not necessary that the instrument be adjusted so delicately and accurately as is often necessary when using ordinary relays, nor is the same difficulty experienced in adjusting the relay to respond satisfactorily both to incoming and outgoing signals.

In Fig. 4 I show an alternative arrangement which is substantially the same as that shown in Fig. 2 except that instead of using a sliding contact-rod 12 I employ a pivoted member 19. pivotally connected to the armature 1. A light spring 20, pressing against the top of this member 19, affords the necessary slight frictional resistance. In this figure I have shown the secondary windings 17 as terminating at the head of the screw 15, though it will be understood that in practice a convenient binding-post in some suitable portion of the frame of the instrument in electrical connection with said screw 15 will be employed.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 5 I employ a sliding member 21, mounted in a suitable bearing in the yoke 22 of the relay and provided with a contact-point 23, adapted to make contact with a point 24 on the armature, and provided also with another contact-point 25, adapted to make contact with a flexible contact-piece 26, adjusted in position by a contact-screw 27. hen the armature 1 first moves forward, the local circuit is closed between points 23 and 24, and near the close of the forward movement of the armature the spring 26, which is so flexible as to permit some motion of rod 21 before contact is broken between said spring and the screw 27 breaks contact with said screw, so opening the local circuit. In the backward motion of .the armature rod 21 is drawn backward by a slotted piece of insulating material 28, carried by the armature and engaging a pin 29 of said rod 21.

My invention is also applicable to polar relays, and in Figs. 7, 8, and 9 I have shown it so applied. Referring first to Fig. 7, numerals 5 designate the magnet-cores, 6 the main linecoils, and 7 the secondary-circuit coils. The armature 30 carries two contact devices comprising springs 8, rods 12, and the parts coacting therewith similar to those shown in Figs. 1 and 2, one of these contact devices arranged to close and then break the secondary circuit upon movement of the armature in one direction, the other arranged to close and then break the secondary circuit upon movement of the armature in the other direction. For convenience of illustration I have shown these contact devices in Fig. 7 as located one above the other on the armature, though in practice it will be usually more convenient to place them side by side. In the arrangement shown in Fig. 7 two secondary-circuit batteries 31 and 32 are employed, the circuit of battery 31 passing through the upper contact device on the armature and the circuit of battery 32 passing through the lower contact device on the armature. These circuits may be traced as follows: from battery 31 through conduc- ITO tor 33, the secondary 'coils 7, and conductors 34 and 35, and the upper contact device on armature 30, and conductor 36 back to battery 31. This circuit will be closed momentarily during motion of the armature toward the left, and when closed the coils 7 will be energized to reinforce the action of coils 6, tending to so move said armature. The circuit from battery 32 is traced as follows: from said battery through conductor 34, coils 7, conductor 33, and conductor 37 ,the lower contact device of armature 30, and conductor 38 back to battery. This circuit is completed when the armature moves from left to right, and battery 32 being arranged oppositely to battery 31, as indicated, the current from battery 32 passing through coils 7 causes said coils 7 to supplement action of the main line current through coils 6, tending to move the armature from left to right.

Fig. 8 illustrates an alternative arrangement in which only one secondary-circuit battery 31 is employed; but each magnet-core of the relay is provided with two secondary-circuit coils, (here numbered 39 and 40,) wound oppositely. Coils 39, which are connected in series, have the circuit completed through them by the upper contact device of the armature when said armature moves from right to left, and coils 40 have the circuit completed through them by the lower contact device of the armature when said armature moves from left to right. The coils 39 and 40 being oppositely wound they act when energized in harmony with the coils 6 of the main-line relay. The secondary circuits of Fig. 8 may be traced as follows: from battery 31 through conductor 41 to 42, where the circuit divides, one branch 43 passing through coils 39 in series and through conductor 44 and the upper contact device of the armature to conductor 45, and so back to battery. The other branch from 42 passes through conductor 46, the coils 40 in series, and conductor 47 to the lower contact device of the armature and thence through conductor back to battery.

In Figs. 7 and 8, 48 designates the perma' nent magnet polarizing the armature 30.

In Fig. 9 I illustrate diagrammatically a further method of applying myinvention to polar relays. In this figurel illustrate merely the armature and contact devices operating thereby. The contact devices carried by the armature are the same as inFigs. 7 and 8, comprising springs 8 and rods 12, but said armature engages a pivoted yoke 49, operating pole-changing mechanism 50 of wellknown type, to which the secondary-circuit battery 31 is connected. The magnet-coils to be used with this arrangement are the same as those in Fig. 7, the reversal of direction of the current in the secondary coils required in order that the secondary circuit may operate in harmony with the line-circuit being affected by changing the poles of the battery 31 instead of by employing two oppositelyarranged batteries, as in Fig. 7. The effect is of course the same. Adjusting-screws on yoke 49, which are engaged by the armature 30, are so adjusted that the yoke is not moved while the secondary circuit is closed, the reversal of polarity of the battery taking place in each instance just as or after the secondary circuit is broken by one of the springs 8.

lVhile my principal reason for employing in the various relays shown a secondary circuit to reinforce the primary circuit in moving the armature is to avoid the necessity of using a sounder separate from the relay by causing the relay itself to give so loud signals that no separate sounder is required, it will be understood that I may nevertheless employ a sounder controlled by the relay, if so desired. Even when a separate sounder is used the employment of the secondary circuit according to my invention is desirable, since an instrument so provided is much more easy to adjust for varying line conditions and for satisfactory response both to incoming and outgoing signals than is a relay not so provided.

While I have termed the instrument embodying my invention a relay, I wish it to be understood that I do not mean thereby to limit myself to the use of the invention in telegraph-relays only. I employ the term relay in a broad or generic sense to designate any instrument operated by an electromagnet and controlling-circuit, and it is obvious that myinvention is applicable to many other instruments besides telegraphic relays, to which I have shown my invention applied.

It is obvious that the foregoing are but a few embodiments of my invention and that there may be many and varied modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and, further, that certain parts may be employed in connection with other parts of different construction. Hence I do not desire to be limited only to the precise details of construction and combination of parts herein. I may further employ in connection with the relay a resonance box, such as shown in my Patent No. 734,453, dated July 21, 1903, for increasing the volume of sound.

Vhat I claim is 1. In a relay the combination with an armature and electromagnetic means for operating the same comprising main magnet-coils for a main circuit, and secondary magnet-coils for a secondary circuit, of contact means for said secondary circuit operated by the motion of the armature and comprising means for breaking said secondary circuit in both extreme positions of the armature and for closing said secondary circuit during motion of the armature toward the magnet.

2. In a relay the combination with an armature, front and back stops therefor, a magnet having main and secondary magnet-coils, and a retractile spring, of contact means for controlling the circuit of said secondary magnetcoils comprising means for breaking said secondary circuit in both extreme positions of the armature and for closing said secondary circuit during motion of the armature toward the magnet.

3. In a relay the combination with an armature, and a magnet having main and secondary coils, of contact means controlling the circuit of said secondary magnet-coils comprising a contact arranged to be closed by movement of the armature toward its magnet, and another contact arranged to be opened near the conclusion of such motion of the armature.

4. In a relay the combination with an armature, and a magnet having main and secondary magnet-coils, of contact means for controlling the circuit of said secondary magnetcoils, comprising a contact member carried by and movable with the armature, a contactstop for said member, and a contact-spring carried by the armature but insulated therefrom and from said contact member, arranged to make contact with said armature when said contact member is not in contact with its stop, and to be moved out of contact with said armature by said contact member, after the latter makes contact with its stop.

5. In a relay the combination with an armature, and amagnet having main and secondary magnet-coils, of contact means for controlling the circuit of said secondary magnet-coils, comprising a contact-spring carried by the armature but insulated therefrom and adapted to make contact therewith, a movable contact member carried by the armature and adapted to operate said spring, insulating material being interposed between said spring and contact member, and a contact-stop for said contact member, said spring, armature, contact member and stop arranged to be included in the secondary circuit.

6. In a relay the combination with an armature, and amagnethaving main and secondary magnet-coils, of contact means for controlling the circuit of said secondary magnet-coils, comprising a contact-spring carried by the armature but insulated therefrom and adapted to make contact therewith, a movable contact member carried by the armature and adapted to operate said spring, insulating material being interposed between said spring and contact member, and a contact-stop for said contact member, said spring, armature, contact member and stop arranged to be included in the secondary circuit, and a friction device opposing motion of said contact member.

7. In a relay the combination with an armature, and amagnet having main and secondary magnet-coils, of contact means for controlling the circuit of said secondary magnet-coils, comprising a contact-spring carried by the armature but insulated therefrom and adapted to make contact therewith, a sliding contact-rod carried by the armature and adapted to operate said spring, insulating material being interposed between said rod and spring, and a contact-stop for said rod, said stop, rod, armature and spring arranged to be included in the secondary circuit.

8. In a relay the combination with an armature, and a magnet having main and secondary magnet-coils, of contact means for controlling the circuit of said secondary magnet-coils, comprising a contact-spring carried by the armature but insulated therefrom and adapted to make contact therewith, a sliding contact-rod carried by the armature and adapted-to operate said spring, insulating material being interposed between said rod and spring, a contact-stop for said rod, said stop, rod, armature and spring arranged to be included in the secondary circuit, and a friction-spring surrounding and acting upon said rod.

9. In a relay the combination with an armature, and a magnet having primary and secondary coils, the secondary coils arranged to amplify the effect of the primary coils, of circuit-controlling means operated by the motion of the armature, controlling the circuit through said secondary coils and comprising means for increasing the current strength in said coils during motion of the armature toward the magnet and for reducing such current strength at the conclusion of such movement and keeping the same reduced until the next motion of the armature toward the magnet.

10. The combination, with a relay having an armature, an electromagnet therefor having main magnet-coils for a main circuit, and secondary magnet-coils for a secondary circuit, and contact means for such secondary circuit operated by the motion of the armature and comprising means for breaking said secondary circuit in both extreme positions of the armature and for closing said secondary circuit during motion of the armature toward the magnet, of the said secondary circuit, and means for supplying current thereto.

In testimony whereof I atfix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN C. BARCLAY.

Witnesses:

B. STEIN, G. A. VAN BRUN'r. 

